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World's Biggest Airliner: Building the Airbus A380
Building Britain
Supercities
Leonardo's Dream Machines
Superstructures of America
Point of No Return
Saturday, 28 May 2005, 7pm
The answer to the growing demand to carry more air passengers in ever more crowded airspace, the Airbus A380 is a bold and challenging project. Dwarfing its predecessors, the plane will carry nearly 600 people, and overshadow all its rivals. Recording the craft being built and interviewing the movers and shakers involved, the programme tracks the tense 20 months when the huge plane moves from dream to reality. From the astounding injections of investment cash needed to take it from the drawing board to the runway, to the technical headaches of lifting the heavy wings off the ground, and transporting the huge components to the assembly factory in France, it was never an easy ride.
The A380 is only possible because of advances in material and construction techniques, allowing its trans-European team to rival the famous Boeing 747 Jumbo that has dominated the aviation industry for more than 30 years. It also offers comparison with a similarly ambitious scheme which ended in economic failure, and considers what the future holds for a truly heroic project in a world of cut-throat business rivalry and environmental anxieties.